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We love styling our dining table in all season, but it comes with special significance over the Christmas period. A beautifully styled table celebrates the long, happy lunch to come. Inviting friends and family to take a seat and relax, ready for a warming feast and quality time together on this special day.
This year our table has a Nordic alpine theme, with winter foliage bringing the green outdoors inside and a traditional festive colour palette refreshed with whimsical prints and patterns along with light touches of decadence. And while we’ve relaxed our minimalism a little with an abundance of tableware, we stay true to our considered nature with zero waste accessories and botanical styling elements.
As always our tablescape begins with a weighty, rustic linen tablecloth – our white version is so versatile and seems to take on a touch of the surrounding colours, here it seems tinged with green. We’ve made things even more sumptuous with a large linen napkin on each place setting instead of a placemat. This solves the issue of having to buy new placemats to suit your table theme each year – simply use crisp linens that go with everything.
Next comes the foliage. The central focus of our Nordic alpine table is this gorgeous green ‘runner’ of seasonal stems down the middle and it’s so easy to create at home. Head out on your favourite country walk with secateurs or scissors and cut a generous amount of long and short stems from the winter bushes. Think ivy, fir, spruce, pine, eucalyptus…lots of evergreens will work, we even included stems from fern plants. Lay the longer branches down the middle of the table and weave the shorter stem on top, until you have a lovely green centrepiece. You can place tall candles in holders next to the runner or weave the stems round them.
Now it’s time to lay your tableware for your festive table. We love to layer different sizes of plate reflecting the number of courses being served, and we’ve started with our fluted cake plate to bring texture to the table. Our hand painted folklore bowl brings a touch of Hans Christian Anderson to the occasion and is a lovely vessel for a soup course. Place your cutlery on top of the plates and add a wine glass next to each place setting. Christmas crackers are a fun tradition and conversation starter, but many of the supermarket options have plastic waste and underwhelming contents. Each year we work with a Yorkshire-based reusable cracker company to design our own and for 2023 we’ve chosen a green gingham with velvet trim. Not only do these crackers look luxurious, they come with a refillable inner carton where you can add your chosen small gift. The linen washes beautifully and these crackers will become as treasured as your family’s favourite tree decorations for years to come.
And now for the really fun part. Your table is almost dressed and it’s time to add the finishing touches – this is where you can get creative! We’ve placed tea lights around the table for a warm glow and scattered winter walnuts and bowls of cranberries. There are so many little details you can include here; pine cones, dried flowers, bowls of dates, apricots and Narnia-style Turkish Delight, ribbons tied into the foliage, or handwritten placecards.
Take a look at the colours and design style of your dining area and add a few flourishes to tie the table into its surroundings. We added our Christmas wreath on the wall, something that will last long into spring. And don’t forget a showstopper cake for dessert!
All that’s left to do is light the candles and uncork the wine. We hope you enjoy creating your festive table, and if you would like to see the Sorbet Living tablescape in person you can visit us at The Barn’s Townhouse in Chichester – find our pop-up on the first floor.
Merry Christmas!
By Amy Tarrant.
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